(October 28,
2012)
Tanger
Outlet management staff working on the development of their
new mall in Steele Creek are confident that they will have
sufficient space leased in the mall to break ground in spring or
early summer 2013.

Headquartered in Greensboro, Tanger
Outlets operates 38 outlet malls across the United States and one in
Canada. They recently announced plans to build a
350,000 square foot, open-air shopping mall at I-485 north of Steele
Creek Road. (See
Release.)

Tanger is
developing the project in conjunction with Childress Klein
Properties and the current land owner, Steele Creek Limited Partnership.
A major owner of
land in Steele Creek, Steele Creek Limited Partnership was created by Charlotte civic leader Sarah Belk Gambrell.
Childress-Klein and Mrs. Gambrell will be developing ancillary uses surrounding the
outlet center.

Tanger Outlet
and Childress-Klein staff invited Charlotte City Council Member
LaWana Mayfield and Steele Creek community representatives to tour
the Tanger Outlet mall in Mebane last week. The Tanger Outlet mall
in Mebane is about two years old and located about 30 miles east of
Greensboro.

The center in Steele creek will be slightly larger than the one
in Mebane and will feature over 90 popular
designer and brand name stores. Much of the merchandise will be
last-year's styles or specially made for outlet stores so that it
can be sold at reduced prices. The mall will have a racetrack style
layout, with an interior loop similar to Concord Mills, but it will
be about one fourth the size of Concord Mills.

While Tanger Outlet
malls across the country have a similar style, each has a
distinctive look, typically based on a theme representative of the
local area. Although the mall in Mebane is quite inland, it features
artistic reproductions of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse and a Wright
Brothers glider, two symbols of coastal North Carolina.

Tanger Outlet staff
said that the Steele Creek mall will have a signature feature that
will "pop." The theme and type of feature has not been
selected, but it should be representative of Steele Creek and
Charlotte.

The site was rezoned in 2011 to allow a mixture of office,
retail, and industrial flex uses. (See
Petition 2011-011.) The change in use, plus the addition
of several small parcels to the project, will require additional
rezoning.

The center will be at
the northern end of the property, near Shopton road (formerly Dixie
River Road) next to I-485. It will be visible to southbound I-485
traffic before the Steele Creek Road exit.

About five
nationally-known sit-down restaurants will be built along the new
Dixie River Road, which will be widened to four lanes. The parking
lot will sit between the restaurants and the mall. the mall in
Mebane does not have a food court but does have a few small food
outlets.

The southern end of
the property at Steele Creek Road will have a hotel, restaurant, and
other retail and office uses.

The whole project
includes about $110,000,000 in new development. It will require 6 to 7
million dollars worth of road work, including the extension of
Berewick Commons Parkway to the new Dixie River Road and traffic
signals and additional lanes at both I-485 exit ramps on Steele
Creek Road. The developers will pay for the road work with some
reimbursement from public funds through tax increment financing
(TIF). Although the mall will generate
additional traffic, it is comparable to what would have been expected with
the current approved uses.

Completion of the
initial 350,000 square-foot mall is expected in 2014, but the site
has room for a 50,000 square foot mall expansion.

This project also
will require rezoning of a small site along I-485 north of Arrowood
Road to allow construction of a billboard. Without this billboard,
northbound traffic would not be aware that they would need to take the
next exit to go to the outlet mall. Without the billboard, the
project will not be built.

As with the larger
Concord Mills Mall northeast of Charlotte, many of the customers for
the Tanger Outlet mall will come from outside Charlotte, bringing in
sales tax and other revenue for the community. (A bus from an
out-of-town retirement center was at the mall in Mebane during the
tour last week.)

The mall will be
conveniently located between I-85 and I-77 for tourists. It will
generate over 900 jobs in addition to several hundred temporary
construction jobs. The outlet mall is not expected to compete with
the Berewick Town Center across Dixie River Road. the outlet mall
should stimulate construction of the Town Center soon.

Tanger Outlets is
active in outreach programs in the communities where their malls are
located. One of their focuses is on breast cancer.

Tanger Outlets will
purchase the mall site, build the mall, and manage the mall. Having
a single company building and operating the mall will allow for
consistent, long-term investment in the community. The mall in
Mebane is attractive, clean, and well maintained. No less is
expected for the Steele Creek Mall.

The entire property
to be developed by Tanger Malls and Childress-Klein will have a
master pan that will optimize traffic flow and ensure compatible
design and uses throughout the site. All parties involved have
expressed a strong desire to create a product that will enhance
Steele Creek and be an asset to the community.